Operation of machines such as industrial or heavy machinery, mobile cranes, concrete pumps, skid steer vehicles, material handling machines, fluid handling or pumping machines, agricultural machines, telemetry systems, load haul dump machines, winches, recovery vehicles, tow trucks, self-propelled moving platforms, mining equipment, or the like, can often advantageously be performed remotely, using an appropriate human to machine interface. It is desirable that such interfaces be cost-effective, reliable, and sufficiently simple yet effective for performing required machine operations.
One type of economical industrial remote control solution involves a plurality of mechanical toggle switches or pushbuttons for actuating different aspects of the remotely controlled machine. However, this type of solution only offers on/off control of each machine aspect, since the switches or pushbuttons can only be operated in the on and off positions.
Another type of remote control solution involves a trigger input on a control handle. In this approach, a switch or pushbutton is activated with one hand while the trigger input is actuated to a desired position along a generally continuous range. The magnitude of a selected control signal is then proportional to the amount of trigger deflection. However, this type of solution requires two-handed operation, which can be cumbersome and may prevent a worker from simultaneously operating the remote controller with one hand and performing another task with the other hand. Additionally, the trigger can only be used to provide one input at a time. Other types of inputs, such as paddles or joysticks may be used in place of or in addition to a trigger. However, these solutions are typically expensive, complex, are subject to mechanical wear, and still require two-handed operation.
A class of user input devices, which has not to date been widely applied for control of machinery such as industrial equipment, is motion sensing user input devices, such as handheld devices, wearable devices, or the like. Such devices are typically applied for navigation with respect to an integrated or external video display associated with a computer, or for providing user interfaces of mobile phones, digital cameras, or gaming devices. Translational or rotational movement of the input device through space is converted into signals for navigating through a video display, for example.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,181,181 discloses a hand-held computer mouse which senses six degrees of motion arising from movement within three dimensions. The mouse includes three accelerometers and three angular rate sensors for sensing linear translation and angular rotation. The mouse may also include a plurality of push-buttons for providing special command signals to the computer, such as resetting a zero reference point or holding position and attitude attributes of the mouse constant despite movement while a push-button is depressed. This application, however, is solely directed toward computer control.
As another example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,280,096 discloses a motion controlled handheld device including an integral display and responsive to three-dimensional motion input via accelerometers, cameras, gyroscopes, and/or rangefinders. Motion input may be used to navigate computer applications. The device may also be switched between multiple input modes such as a motion-based mode and a gesture recognition mode, for example by pressing a particular key. Additionally, selective disengagement and reengagement of the motion sensitivity of the device may be enabled by another input key, in order to allow greater movement within a virtual desktop in a limited amount of physical space. However, this approach is not appropriate for at least some types of machine control.
Therefore there is a need for a method and apparatus for controlling a machine based on sensed motion input that is not subject to one or more limitations in the prior art.
This background information is provided for the purpose of making known information believed by the applicant to be of possible relevance to the present invention. No admission is necessarily intended, nor should be construed, that any of the preceding information constitutes prior art against the present invention.